Zero s Valkyria
by Opicu
Summary: Louise wanted a strong familiar,but discovered too late that having one could gave her more problems that she could ever expect. Selvaria wanted to die for her prince,but ended having an unwanted  second chance. FoZ story is going to be "a bit" changed.
1. Chapter 1: Valkyria s flame

I do not own anything, you hear me? Anything!, also no, there is no intention of profit with this.

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-You are the one who has forgotten General.

-What the ?

-Witness the power of the Valkyria´s flame. Fed by the dying embers of her own life, it blossoms into hell´s own inferno.

-What are you doing? Shoot her! Gyaaaargh!

-Maximilian-sama... Farewell. All glory to you.

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_I wonder why my wounds keep hurting_, thought Selvaria

-"Kyaaaaah! It´s bleeding!"

She opened her eyes startled by the shout. _What the_ ... _where the hell I am?__ Who is shouting?_.

She realized that she was on her knees, and the first thing she saw is a surprised girl with strawberry blond hair, _Incredible, its almost pink, _looking a her as if She were a ghost. _Actually, I should be a ghost_. _Why I am alive_? _The Valkyria´s flame should have reduced my body to ashes or even worse_.

"Quickly call one of the water mage teachers, she needs a healer!"

A man´s voice, behind her. _Mage_? Selvaria turned her face to look at him. An older man, maybe in his forties, with a staff no less. Now that She carefully looked at them almost all are using a pointy hat. _What a strange place, at least it looks like I´m not in danger at the moment_.

"That will be not necessary, this wounds will be closed soon."

"Wha..., are you sure, those are gunshot wounds, no? They are very dangerous".

"I´m completely sure, look"

She pointed at one of the wounds in her left arm, and as she signaled it, the lead bullet fell to the ground, while the wound closed at remarkable speed.

"Am-amazing, high speed regeneration, sounds incredible... oh excuse me, what bad manners... my name is Jean Colbert, a teacher of this institution, Tristain Academy of Magic. And you are?"

"I am Brigadier General Selvaria Bles, under command of Prince Maximilian Gaius Von Reginrave, Commander in Chief all Imperial Forces in the Gallian front."

"A general? Were you a soldier?"

_Were_? Before She answered, and even before She had time to think about what have just heard the ( very short or quite young ) girl chose this moment to express herself rather loudly.

"It´s no matter what she was! She is now my familiar!"

Selvaria turned again to look at her with a surprised face, but before She had any time to say nothing the pink haired girl starts telling something that sounds like a spell, or incantation. _As if I knew the difference between both_, _if there is a difference at all_.

"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being, and make her my familiar."

She touched Selvaria with her stick. _A wand?_ And got closer. _What the ..._ _I thought I seen almost anything this "wonderful" live could throw at me an then a little girl kiss me in the mouth without explanation at all_, but Selvaria was so surprised that she reacted too late too stop her. She heard whistles and cat calls. _Men_.

"What the hell are you doing?" Selvaria asked, moving away the girl

"Shut up, do you think that I like it? And it was my first kiss too!",was the girl answer

_This girl is crazy._

"You have failed 'Summon Servant' many times, but you have managed to succeed with 'Contract Servant' in one try," Colbert said happily.

_Summon Servant?Contract? Its all this people crazy or what?...No, what he said about water mages ..._

Suddenly a pain started burning in her left hand.

"Ouch"

"It will be over soon, just wait. The Familiar's Runes are being inscribed," The girl, Louise said

"Familiar´s Runes? What are you talking about?" Getting more than a bit tired of all of this, Selvaria tried to get up, but failed. _I suppose I´m more tired than I expected, almost dying can have that effect. Almost? I am still not completely sure I survived, even with the pain all this situation is so unreal that is unbelievable_.

One moment later, the pain stopped, and as Selvaria took off her left hand glove, professor Colbert got near and started looking at it.

"That was quick..." The middle-aged mage checked the back of her left hand. There were unfamiliar symbols, completely different to Europa´s modern writing and even the Valkyria´s runes. _Another mystery_, thought the Valkyria

"These are very unusual Runes, can I copy them If is not an inconvenience?"

"Well, I don´t understand them at all, but I suppose there is no problem, go ahead" Selvaria answered "Can you explain me what is happening, to say I´m confused It´s a bit of an understatement..."

"I´m sorry I cannot answer you right now, but we are still on class time, ask Louise, your master, and if you have more questions, you can ask me after class is over" said Colbert "In fact I would love to keep talking to you, your regeneration, for example, its very interesting"

"I _really_ love to talk a lot with her too... ouch" said a flamboyant blond kid before being cut at mid talk by another student, another blond, by the _classic_ method of sticking her elbow in his belly "I ... I thought that her regeneration is very interesting Monmon"

And then all of them started to fly moving towards the medieval castle in the distance.

_Where the hell I ended_, thought for umpteenth time the Valkyria.

"Louise you´d better walk back"

Selvaria looked at the child that was talking and noticed that two of the kids near him were looking at her more intensely than the others, one a red head with a tanned skin that looked a bit more growth-up with a mich of admiration, surprise and jealousy, and the other, who looked as a 10 years old with a hair bluer than the Valkyrie with an strange, almost hollow look.

_Is that a dragon?_, thought Selvaria, turning her face fast to look at her "master" _Curious face, a mix of sadness, envy and _...

Louise jumped a bit, surprised by Selvaria´s look. _Scary... _was the first thought in her mind

_Yes I look pissed right? Is because I am_, "Well _master _I think you and I have to talk, a _loong _talk. I´m sorry but as I said, I am a commander officer in an army, and for your information we were in the middle of a war, so I _need_, really need to return to my world, I cannot stay here more time" said Selvaria. _I hope Maximilian-__sama will be all right, If I remember correctly he was near deploying the Marmota_

_It can´t be, when finally I make a summon, a powerful warrior familiar that even regenerates her wounds by herself, and She wants to abandon me just after being summoned, ITS NOT JUST, why can´t I have a normal familiar..._ thought Louise. "I´m sorry but I don´t know how to do that, normally the summon brings forth magical beast or animals, and gives them a long live and several abilities useful to the summoner, and they be together till one of them dies, as far as I know, there is no way to un-summon a familiar".

"So even if you died its not sure that I returned to my land?" said Selvaria with a half-smile.

_Definitely scary_ thought the young mage. "I … I´m telling you the truth, even if I have some _problems_ with the practical part of wizardry I´m very well versed in the theory"

_Problems? Not know, lets look for another way out, no chance in hell I´m going to be stuck in here, when my presence could chance everything in the Gallian front_ thought Selvaria, quickly trying to think in other possibilities. "What about the teachers, or the director of this school?, maybe they know something more about this _summoning_?"

"I am quite sure of what I just told you, and most of the teacher will be at class at this moment so they will not be happy to be interrupted" was the answer of the small wizard.

"And what about the director?, as I said I am a important part of the Empire´s army" said quickly Selvaria. _Yeah, sure, important only as a weapon, but I am not going to reveal nothing to this brat._ "Surely you will understand that it will be not very diplomatic to kidnap a general, second only to the Prince himself".

_Enough_ thought angrily Louise "As I said its impossible, and stop answering me back you are my familiar and you will _obey_ me, it´s clear?

"Or _what_?" answered angrily the Valkyria back _Damn brat. _"I will not be ANYONE´s slave, **_UNDERSTOOD_**?"

While talking and without even noticing, Selvaria started glowing in an eerie and beautiful blue tone. This is too much for the poor Louise and after taking a step back, stumbled and ended in the ground, with a sound THUMP.

_Great, here I am, reduced to scare little girls enough to fall to the ground_ thought the Valkyria. "Sigh, I am sorry, I do not want to harm you, but you must understand that taking a person from her land and friends and expecting her to obey you only because you want to its not a healthy way to win friends and start relations, think what would you thought of the situation if it happened to you, so can we please talk to the director of this academy, Louise?"

Selvaria gave her hand to help her off the ground.

_This is the first time she uses my name, and She is right, I will be royally pissed If it happened me._ though Louise "Alright, I was sincere when I told you I think there is no way of going back, but if there is one, Old Osmond is one of the wisest persons in the land, he would know".

After getting again in her feet with the Valkyria´s help, she motioned her to follow.

When Selvaria started to follow the girl, she saw the moons, in plural. _Oh no, know I am quite sure that I am in a really serious situation._

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They arrived at the antechamber of the Director´s office, but there was no one in the aide´s desk.

"How strange, lets try knocking at the door" said Louise.

After several attempts, Selvaria heard what looked like a shout, and opened the door in a flash.

"Wait you cannot enter without ..." started to say Louise while following the Valkyria inside, but was interrupted by the image of Osmond´s aide hitting him repeatedly with her foot in his back.

_Wisest person indeed …_ thought Selvaria trying hard not to laugh at the strange situation.

"Err I was giving Oldmond-sensei a backrub because he said it hurt very much, no sir?" said almost too fast the young woman.

"Cough, cough, exactly, exactly, thank you very much Miss Longueville, I will not need more of your help for the time being" said the old man, obviously Osmond himself. "And let me add that is quite rude of a student to enter the school´s faculty office without knocking first Miss ..." continued the director while too obviously looking at Selvaria´s assets.

"We called several times, maybe you were _distracted by the backrub_ and did not hear it. I am Selvaria Bles, officer of the Imperial army and I was brought here without my permission, and I will very happy if you could send me back to my world, and also glad if you _looked at my face_, Mr. _Oldmond_" said with a killer glade Selvaria.

"Ahem, It´s Osmond" said very quietly the old man.

_I´m glad its not me who´s been looked like that, for a change_ though Louise.

In the meantime the door opened again and Colbert-sensei entered with haste.

"Old Osmond!" almost shouted, "I have some big news!"

"Why can no one knock _before_ enter?" sighed the director. "What news?"

"It´s about this woman that Miss De la Valliere summoned, or more correctly her runes" answered the professor. "Look at them, please"

At the moment the old man looked at the book, his expression changed.

_So its not just an idiot, maybe he is more that I thought, I hope so, or my chances to get out of this crazy world are going to be almost nil_ thought the Valkyria.

"Miss Longueville, would you please excuse us?"

Miss Longueville stood up and left the room. Osmond spoke only after he confirmed she was properly outside.

"Now, why don´t we seat comfortably and you tree explain this to me with every detail, Mister Colbert, Miss Bles, Miss De la Valliere..."

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The night had fallen in Halkeginia, for that was the name of the world in which she was, she was seated in the edge of the open window, looking at the two strange moons that shone in blue and pink, while Louise slept. She had a long and tough discussion with both men and her _new master_, no less, _Why master and not mistress I wonder?, bah._

The discussion had not gone very well for her, neither for her intent to return to her world. Louise had not lied to her, there had never been any summoning in history that had taken a person from other world before her, and in any case they told her that even if she got back to Europa, Louise probably will summon her again.

And she would have to do it. It seems like the only other registered case in history of a summoning of a self-aware being was the legendary Brimir, founder of all the magic rites that ruled the wizardry in this world, _including the summoning itself_, and sort of a religious legend himself, and furthermore they thought that the importance of another "Gandalfr", the equally legendary familiar of the Founder could mean something very important, crucial even, to this world history. The old man was no fool, that´s for sure, he noticed that I was not interested at all in being the maidservant of a little brat, and explained in quite simple terms that if I left her she would be kidnapped or worse, for her magic was something special. Even more, he explained too that Louise was the daughter of a Duke, one of the most important lords in this strange country of this stranger world, and his and her contacts in the court could be the only chance she could have to return to her world "after finished helping her". _I had an insane desire to hit the old man when he said that ._

_Completely defeated, that is the only way to define the situation. When_ the man had finished to crush her hopes, he started to ask questions about her world, and at the same time painted her the new world she was in.

The two worlds incredibly have many things in common, the country she was was called Tristain, and both situation and size was a lot like The Principality of Gallia, at the West there was a country called Germania, and again by size and position looked a lot Like the Imperial Alliance she belonged, and in the South there was a country called Gallia, to add confusion, like in her world, but here it was the equivalent of her world Atlantic Federation. Most surprising was that the island country of Dekkum was independent in this world, but not only It was an island too, it was a frigging _floating _island.

Maybe she should not rule out being dead and in hell yet, because she was having serious problems to understand everything it was happening.

She had a small chat with Louise after arriving at her room, small because it was real late when they arrived and the teenager girl, _she was 16 I still cannot believe it,_ had agreed to be partners for the moment, and until she brought another bed, they agreed to sleep together in the huge bed. The small girl was a bit of a mystery too. She was at times an utter bitch, at times a scared little girl and at times a quite intelligent, even brilliant, person. Some of the things she explained at the reunion were understood faster by her than the two older man, and when she explained a bit her relation with prince Maximilian she had suddenly started to support her and bowed to helped to return to him.

Selvaria noted that her face was getting a bit red _again. What a strange girl._

Although she was tired too_, blowing herself __is a good reason for it,_ she needed to walk alone for a bit, because she had far too many things in her mind.

Leaving the room silently she went down again to the courtyard, seeing the rude blonde kid of this afternoon courting a girl, but ignored him and went to the closed gates. She stopped herself and started thinking seriously in the thing she was most worried and at the same time the thing she was trying harder not to think.

_Maximilian-sama must be at this moment assaulting Gallia´s capital with the Marmota, I told him that it was a very strong risk, and that he should left that mission to another person, what if he is defeated, that Gallian Vakyria defeated me, she was very strong, what if he dies, what …_

Selvaria Bles, Valkyria and General of the Empire, knelt down and started the only thing she promised herself she would never do after meeting Him.

"Kyui, what is she doing onee-sama" asked someone flying at a considerable distance.

"... crying" answered the small mage mounted in her.

"Why she is crying? Stomachache? Kyui?"

"... sad"

"Irukukuu is sad too, kyui, can we help her, kyui"

"... back"

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Notes:

This is my first fan fiction, so please be nice, but I would enjoy a lot constructive critics. I suck at English so anything you see, don´t doubt to tell me. I have written stories(non fan fiction) before, but never finished nothing, I will try that this one is the first ( that is why I uploaded it in , if I can do it is another thing altogether ).

All the blame and the reason why this thing was started is of course Gabriel Blessing´s "The Hill of Swords", before reading his awesome story I knew of Zero no Tsukaima, but I was not really interested in this world, two quite stupid brats as protagonists with almost no development destroyed a premise that well developed ( as Gabriel demonstrated ) could be a very interesting story ( although the books are a bit better in that matter than the anime ).

I have the idea well defined already, and its going to deviate quite a lot from the original story, but obviously at the first the changes are going to be just a few.

When I decided to write a crossover, I had 3 ideas, the first was Berserk´s Gatsu/Guts, but It had the small problem that if it was too soon in his story, he was a "simple" merc and not too interesting by itself, and if too late … it gave me literal _nightmares_. The second was Negima´s Evangeline Athanasia Katherina McDowell, and I thought it was an awesome but flawed idea because if she was interested in help Louise ( goddess of the vampires knows why ) she literally could curb stomp everything and everyone in FoZ, and if it she was not interested, it was only good for a ( really funny ) crack fic, not what I was looking for. The third obviously, was this. In some aspects Selvaria is a dangerously broken character like the other two, but I think I could write it without making a boring story. Of course it will not be as good as HoS, and many other new stories, but I will try to write this story the best I can. And as her story in Valkyria´s Chronicles is quite finished, I kind of wanted to gave her a second chance in life.

Lastly, but not less important, the worst part writing this story was making Sylphid sad, making sad the cutest dragon and most likely character in all FoZ was HARD ( and I never thought I would ever write cute and dragon in the same sentence, but that´s life for you ).


	2. Chapter 2: Valkyria s fight

I still do not own anything, also again no, there is no intention to win _gnome_ profit with this.

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-"Muahahaha!, kneel before me, the legendary Void user, the most powerful wizard since The Founder Brimir himself, and you dared to call me ZERO!, I will be lenient, in my infinite ..."

"Master Louise, you told me that you have to wake up at sunshine..." said a voice.

"Munya, munya, just five minutes more Cattleya-neechan, just fiv..." answered Louise, more than half sleep.

"Alright, but then don´t protest later if you arrive too late to class, and I would want to take a shower or a bath to get rid of all this blood" said someone, definitively not Cattleya.

_Uh-mm, what?, who?_ Thought the young caster. "Wait, who are you?".

"Sigh, I hope for both of us that you are bad at waking up..." was the answer received.

"Ah, my familiar, the scary neesan that regenerates" said Louise, more awake. "I forgot to ask you, is that magic, or is a strange ability that you had? Are you a commoner or a noble?"

"I would be glad If you call me Miss Bles, or Selvaria if you want, because I suppose that my general´s rank has no sense or utility in this world, and I _rather_ not be called _scary neesan_" said Selvaria. "And about if I´m a noble or a commoner, there was a title attached to the rank in the Empire, that is completely useless here, and if with that question you refer to the separation that this world has between those who can use magic and those without, I should answer that in my world there was no magic, and my abilities where of a complete different category , because as far I know they could be measured, and even at a small level, recreated, by science"

"Science?, what kind of element is this 'science'? Is it different from the five elemental powers?" asked the mage, a bit interested._ Has She not slept at all? Those are some serious dark circles behind the eyes … _Meanwhile Louise start to get up, and signaled the big wardrobe. "Could you pass me one of my uniforms, and underwear?"

"If you say the magic word..." answered Selvaria with a crooked smile. _I told you clearly that I will be your partner, not your slave … And like hell I´m going to explain what science is now._

_Uh oh. She really can be scary when she wants. Why can´t I have a normal familiar... but then they could not help me to dress, and if she is special It´s because I am a Void mage, I simply cannot believe it, even with all the Principal and Colbert-sensei had said. But they said that summoning a Gandalfr its the proof … Wait until I tell that Zerbst. U huh huh, how they dared to call me useless, Zero they called me ... _

"Ahem, Master Louise, your face looks a bit red, are you alright?" Asked Selvaria._ Great I really hope there is not__ a screw loose__ up there _…

"Eh?, Sorry, I got distracted for a while. Can I call you Sel?, And you can call me Louise, if you want … _Please_, Sel, can you give me one of my uniforms, and underwear?" Asked again Louise._ I can be polite, those with power must have the responsability, err responsibility that goes with it, fu fu_.

_I don´t know why, but She does not seem very sincere …_ thought the Valkyria, while going to the closet, and taking the clothes. "As you were in la la land, before, I ask you again, Where can I take a shower to take away all this blood? It´s a bit bothersome, and people keep staring at it yesterday. And also, if one of my duties is protect you while casting, it would be advisable to acquire some sort of weapon for me to use."

Louise started to dress. "Stupid of me, you stayed all the day with those clothes with holes and blood, I´m sorry it was so surreal that I forgot even to go to the bathroom. Normally we share a bath between the students, and the girls turn is just after the last gong, until it closes, but I will ask for them to let you use it before. And we will have to buy you new clothes, not only weapons. What kind of weapons do you use?"

"Do not worry, I will wait until its our time, Louise, and thanks for the clothes offer, it would be useful" said Selvaria. "About weapons, I´m most proficient with heavy weapons, like machine guns and rifles, but I´m also good with sniper rifles and I can use rocket lances if needed. I´m not very good neither with mortar lances nor small wea..."

"Wait, wait , _Snyder_ what?, _murder_ lances? What are you talking about?" asked Louise.

"Sigh. As your teacher talked about gunshots, I supposed you have guns, I can see that I´m wrong, what sort of gunnery this world uses?" asked back Sel.

"The most common guns are those of the airships,I think there are some in land use, for support, but fire mages are better for that, And If I remember well, the Musketeers and the Royal Guard use a smaller version called, well, muskets. I think that Germanian lancers use some sort of gun too, barbarians, is what they are..." answered Louise.

_I wonder who is the barbarian here _… thought Selvaria. "I see, I´m proficient too in swords and lances too ..." _But I really doubt you have one of those 'Lances' here_ …

"Well, I think we can go to Tristania on the next Day of Void to buy clothes and a weapon" concluded Louise. "Now, let´s go because I´m starving"

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"Good Morning, Louise" said Kirche.

"... Good Morning, Kirche" answered Louise with a frown.

"Is that your familiar?" asked the Germanian girl. "So it really is a human! That's amazing! How were you able to cure your wounds so easily? And its the first time I see a red eyed human, fascinating. What do you need to eat to be in such an excellent shape?"

_Whoa, talk about a query machine gun _… thought Selvaria. "I am really a human, the wound thing is an involuntary ability of mine, I do not eat nothing special and about the red eyes … its complicated"

_Oomph, die of envy you hussy Germanian. Mine familiar is more awesome than yours,_ though Louise with pride.

"It's just like you to summon a human with _Summon Servant_. What else to expect from Louise the Zero? It´s at the same time so surprising and so _common_ that only you could pull something like that" said the Germanian "My name is Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst, but its too long, so you can call me Kirche. I summoned a familiar yesterday, too. And unlike a certain somebody, I was successful on my first try. Come, Flame!"

From her room, a large, dark-red lizard slithered out. A wave of heat following it.

"As you probably heard yesterday, my name is Selvaria Bles. How curious, I have never seen a lizard so big an so … red" said the Valkyria, gently scratching the beast behind the ears "It is not as big as the purple dragon I saw today," _I can´t believe I am talking about cute, purple dragons_, "but its cute in its own way. It´s surprisingly warm, too." _Wait has this lizard a zippo on his tail?._

"Is this your first time seeing a fire lizard? It's a salamander from the Fire Dragon Mountains! It's like a brand! Collectors can't even put a price on these! Of course Tabitha´s Sylphid is a great familiar too."

"That's nice," Louise said, her voice a bit bitter.

"Isn't it? It matches my affinity perfectly!" said proudly the Germanian.

"Your affinity is Fire, isn't it?"

"Of course. After all, I'm Kirche the Ardent. The ardent of gently smoldering passion. Everywhere I go, I have boys falling for me. Unlike you, right? Even your familiar ..."

"I don't have the time to go around flirting with everything I see, unlike you." interrupted her Louise, "And for your information it has concluded that my affinity is Void, hum, and my fami..."

"Louise!" said Selvaria, a bit worried. She started to look if there was more people near that could have heard her _for her taste too bold_ partner.

The face of the Germanian changed a bit, and said in a more serious tone "Louise, you should be careful what you say, I´m not a very religious person, but some people, important persons, could be pissed what you said, you could have trouble with the Inquisition, even being a Duke´s daughter"

"But is the truth!" answered back the now quite fumed Louise.

"Master Louise, _dear,_ we have to _talk_ just for a _moment,_if you please" said Selvaria with a smile from ear to ear.

_Oops, that smile, I only have seen it when mommy was angry beyond reason_. Louise did not understand why her companion was so pissed off, but she feared that she was going to know it, and soon. "But, but ..."

Kirche had also see the face of the tall silver haired girl, and decided that is was a good time to retire herself."Well then, I'll be off now." She stroked her flaming red hair back and dashed off. The salamander followed her with a cute shuffling movement that looked odd with such a large creature.

As she disappeared, Sel looked again in all directions and put an knee in the ground in front the smaller girl, while putting her hands in Louise shoulders.

The small wizard shuddered, a bit scared, but it was surprised by the worried and almost soothing tone than the older girl used. _I have yet to ask for her age, even_.

"Louise, I think I understand you a little, you have been mocked all your life for your lack of magic, or for your lack of control of it, no?"

"Ye... yes, as you heard Kirche, all the mages laughed at my magic, that is why I wanted to tell her of the reason. As is a legendary thing that has not appeared for thousand of years since the Founder, I could not do something there is no spells known for it."

"As I said, I understand you, but you have not considered that the other option can be _even_ worse than before."

"What are you talking about?" asked a surprised Louise. _How can anything be worse than being mocked for all her life?_.

"Louise, soon you will be no longer ignored, you have the power of a legendary person who founded the entire school of magic your people use, an even more, he created an entire religion too, can you understand the powerful he could be, that you _could_ be, if you are not very very careful, you are going to be pursued like hell, people will try to kill for access to you and your power, nations could go war for you or simply to kill you, you are _or will be_ a walking weapon capable of destruction in a level probably never seen before, and they will try to abuse both of you and your power, I swear that I know what I am talking about" said very sadly the Valkyria, _more than I would ever wanted to know. "_The less people know about you the better, believe me, they will try to abduct member of your family or loved ones **to use you**" ..._mother_... "there are persons out there that would … will do _anything at all_ to have you. You must promise me that you will never reveal anything to anyone, please Louise..."

The young mage stood there, greatly stunned by what her familiar have just told her. _They could attack her family? NO! Her mom will never let anyone touch her family, and her dad was no slouch either, and even if it pained her recognize it, Eléonore was quite good at it … Cattleya, if she had better health … Wait, she is too sad, too certain …Sel is talking from experience_..._ I don´t really know nothing at all of her_ … "I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, promise you that I will do whatever I can, if does not break my promise to the Queen, to protect our secret. I am sorry I was more than a bit careless."

"I understand, Louise. Thank you" said Selvaria with a smile. "And come on, lets go before they leave us without breakfast"

"No! They will not dare!" answered a smiling Louise.

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When they arrived to Alviss dining hall Louise remembered that her companion was not a noble. _How could I forgot, familiars have to eat outside, but is because it is the first time since the Founder, what can I do now? Wait is she really a commoner? Because that regeneration trick looked a lot like water magic..._

"What a serious face, Louise" said Selvaria. "Any problem?"

"Well, this is the Alviss dining hall, only the nobles are allowed to eat here and as you said your ability is not magic I really don´t know exactly what to do" answered Louise.

"I think is better if we do not create problems, I don´t really care were I eat, so maybe is better if I go to the kitchen and ask there if I can eat breakfast there"

"I´m sorry Sel, I´m really sorry" said the young mage. "I will guide you if you want"

"Don´t worry, I will ask someone" _Like that girl that looks a lot like a Darcsen_ "Excuse me, I´m Selvaria Bles, what is your name?"

"My name is Siesta, milady, Do you need something?" said contritely the young maid.

_She looks really young for being a maid_ thought Selvaria "Can you please guide me to the kitchen? I will explain myself in our way. See you later in the courtyard, Louise"

"Very well, see you soon, Sel"

Louise seated, and when she was going to start to eat heard a stupid voice laughing at her.

"Ha, Louise instead a normal familiar you got a commoner? Don´t make me laugh … How much did you pay her for the acting?"

_A third year. Oomph , you would not laugh so hard if you had seen her appear in all her blue light_ thought Louise

"Well at least you had an excellent taste, Louise, she is rather pleasing to the eye, a lot more than you" A definitively male murmur of approval could be clearly heard.

_Malicorne, I swear that I will put pepper in your shirts or pebbles in your shoes for that, and ..._

"And Louise if you have _any_ problem do not doubt to call me" said quite loudly Selvaria from the door.

"Of course, Sel" answered back Louise, like it was nothing. Inside she was fuming, happy to inflict even the smallest vengeance to her schoolmates. _Nice hearing Sel_

Just after that, a silence took possession of the room, while all the noble alumni ate.

_I still can believe it. I fear that soon I am going to wake up and it will be the time to cast the "Summon Servant" again. But If this is a dream I prefer to stay asleep._

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

Louise went to the courtyard a bit later than the rest of the students, because she had helped Mrs. Chevreuse to prepare her next class. As the most famous failure of the Academy when it came to practical magic, she tried as hard as she could to be the best in the theory, and to help the teachers, she suspected that that was an even more powerful reason that she was allowed to stay after so many fiascoes than her family´s influence and money. She thought that if she stopped just now they would thought, correctly of course, that she was only doing it for that reason, and not for being a good student. So she feared that she would have to keep up the charade for a time.

_Now where is Sel?_ Thought Louise. _Pfff is that Guiche trying to hit on her? Boy are you retarded or what? I love her face of "I don´t give a damn" this could be funny, lets hear a bit …_

"I´m telling the truth, Lady Bles, I´m the son of the legendary General de Gramont"

_Legendary my ass, is just another of the Palace´s dead weights, like your future self will be probably._

"Very impressive, but I think your girlfriend, that nice blonde was waiting for you, Or was that cute brunette of last night?" answered Selvaria in an almost educated tone.

_Eat that, you sad womanize_r ...

"They are only good friends, but anyway I was only trying to compare opinion, between comrades in arms ..." insisted the blond student.

_Comrades in arms. That is an entire level up in being pathetic, Guiche_ thought Louise

"I´m sorry, but I am not really interested. Thanks but no."

"Oh, please, just at least let me show you my powerful Valkyries, Lady Bles"

_Nobody cares, two-timer._

"Valkyries?" asked a suddenly interested Selvaria.

_Uh?_

"Eh? Of course I am Guiche the Bronze, that means I´m the master of Bronze Valkyries"

"Why don´t you show me?"

"Of course, milady" an over eager Guiche took his rose-shaped wand and dropped a petal in the ground, and just after the fall a bronze armor in the form of a woman arose from the ground.

"Master Louise, would you mind if I spar a bit with … sorry what was your name again?"

"_Sigh_, Guiche, Guiche de Gramont"

"_Master_ Louise, would you mind if I spar a bit with _Sir_ Guiche?"

_This could be good_. "Why not, but if is training I would ask both of you to control yourselves"

"But of course, _Master_"

_Ah, that smile again, I don´t understand exactly what happened, but I hope I do not need to call a water mage _…

"It will be an honor to spar myself with General Bless, I can only humbly hope I could be a good partner"

_Humbly and de Gramont together are an oximo, a oxiomo, a … an impossible thing to mix_ …

With a small bow, Selvaria motioned Guiche to start, in the meanwhile several students, including the redheaded Germanian and a certain blue haired Gallian started to look at the promised spectacle.

Guiche bowed too, and with a fast movement of his arm, motioned the Bronze Valkyrie to attack the living Valkyria.

_What is she doing she is not moving at_ …

Just at the last moment, and with a remarkable speed, Selvaria dodged to the right and with her left leg hit the standing leg of the running Bronze creation. With a metallic crash, the Bronze Valkyrie fell to the ground, breaking in several pieces, and with the magic failed, disappearing.

"Please, Sir Guiche, take this a bit more seriously" said Selvaria, with an educated smile in her face.

Guiche, a bit embarrassed, could hear clearly the giggles and the murmurs spreading between the spectators.

"I´m terribly sorry, milady, as you are not armed I was really scared to hurt your wonderful bo... err face" _At least there was no mock in her tone ... _

"I understand, _sir_, but this would be a poor spar if you do not try a bit harder ..."

"Of course, here I go again"

And with that, a second Bronze statue appeared, this one armed with a spear and a shield.

The statue attacked in a flash, but it was clear that the boy was controlling himself again, and the lance only attacked with the sides, and not the tip of the spear.

Getting a bit tired, Selvaria launched herself against the statue and hitting the shield with the knee she took the lance with her hands, trying to check the strength with which the statue hold it, but in that moment she noticed a heat in her left hand, and could see clearly a small but bright light coming from the gloved hand.

As surprised as she was, she gave a small jump backwards, that became a long jump that broke the statue´s right arm and left the Bronze Valkyrie with her weight unbalanced, falling again to the ground, but this time the smaller speed of the statue prevented its complete breakdown.

In a sudden everyone looking at the fight was silent, trying to understand what have just happened.

"What was that?"

"Did you see it?"

"She broke the Valkyrie´s arm like it was made of butter ..."

_I always new that I hit jackpot with her, but this is unbelievable. Eat that you sissies _...

Guiche was really scared.

He was only trying to talk with the beautiful woman, and tried to score points with his father´s profession but this was too much. What he was supposed to do now?

"Alright, I think is my turn to attack now, don´t you think, _sir_?" _What the hell is going on, it has to be the runes of the pact, I feel like a hundred times stronger and lighter than ever, and that´s nothing to joke about, at least it does not hurt like the Valkyria´s abilities _... "Are you capable of producing more than one at a time, _sir_?"

"Ye, yes, mi, milady"

"Then please let me try to do the offense this time"

"No pro-problem" with almost spasmodic movements, Guiche started to mass produce Bronze statues, one, two, and that way until seven of them where between him and the fiery lady that has crushed the two first. The armless one got up and positioned the last, as a last defender.

_Idiot, If you dispelled it or put it the first I would have to change weapon when the spear disappeared _…

"I wi-will only defend, I fear to hu-hurt you, milady"

"How chivalrous of you, _sir_"

_Lets go._ With a speed even greater than before the silver haired girl throw into the battle.

She put herself between the first two, ducking enough to pass below their lances and hitting the third and the fourth at the same time with the spear used as a cane, behind her the first two self destructed hitting each other and even before the four of them had all touched the ground she was throwing lightning piercing attacks to the third remaining complete statues. After that she threw the spear itself into the last, passing so near the blond student that he fell into the ground with a very unmanly shriek.

It had been just a heartbeat, almost too fast for the viewers to understand what they have seen, but with the "training" ended the shouts and the cheers became louder than the fight itself.

"Incredible"

"How did you do that?"

"Marry me!"

"Do you have any brothers by chance?"

"How can you move so fast?"

"Not bad at all, Sel, a nice, if fast, training exercise" said a grinning Louise.

"G U I I I C H E"could be heard clearly between all the voices.

"Monmon? Err I can explain, you´ll know..."

"Miss Montmorency, a moment please" said seriously Selvaria "I´m sorry if I scared you, but you must understand" _In that playboy head of yours_ "that war is never a joke, I can accept that you are very young, but this is a lesson that could save your life, especially in the first battles. The way you used your Bronze automatons left you without sight of your enemy, and you should have dismissed the broken one to left me without weapon. Also, you rely too much in your magic, and that left you vulnerable. I did not this to scare you, or to mock you, but to show you a real taste of what can you expect if you follow this path."

_You would be an excellent teacher, Sel, if your students survive the lesson, that is ..._ thought with a smirk Louise _so, I see that what you have in common with mom is not only the scary smile_ ...

"I am very honored of having trained with you, lady Bles, and to receive your ..."

"_Guiche_, I cannot leave you alone without ..."

"Pardon me again, Miss Montmorency, but it seems that I accidentally wounded sir Guiche while in training, I heard you are a great healer would you ..."

"WHAT? Where are you wounded Guiche, Where?" the blonde student almost throw herself to the still grounded fellow, while the silver haired girl walked away.

_That blue haired girl, Tabitha?, gaze is scaring me a bit, normally she just read a book ignoring everything else, but just now … And that Germanian, Kirche, is talking a lot with, well, to her. Those too looks like the most serious of the possible threats, the rest look like the kids they are _...

With signals Louise called Selvaria, and softly asked her "How did you know she was a healer, and how did you even knew her name?"

"It is easy when the person in question shout loudly to all her friends that she, Montmorency Marga-something was the best healer and water mage of all the students"

Louise started to giggle, she could not stop, and soon Selvaria too was smiling."By the way I forgot to ask you. How old are you Sel?"

"I´m 22 years old"

"What? How could you be a General at 22?"

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

"No, that would have to wait until we return" said a dandy looking gentleman with a small mustache and goatee, talking with a young stableman.

"Wardes! What game are you playing?"

"Hello, Karin, I´m glad to see you _too_, since you retired things are quite boring in the Palace. Thanks, that will be all. Now what are you talking about? I wonder ..."

"You are a hundred years too young to try to play with me, kid. You _know_ perfectly what I am talking about"

"Could start with the letter _R_, by chance?"

"_Wardes_!"

"Don´t look me like that! Since you retired there was no one to take care of half what you have done, even if the late king tried to distribute your, a_hem_, work, between several of us, including that useless Mott and other even more retarded ones, they gave me the less _funny_ part of it, including those fanatics. I´m trying to change the rules, and don´t worry, if I fail I would use your _explicit_ methods. And If you excuse me, I have to prepare Her Highness trip to Germania..."

While looking the younger man walking away, the woman only softly said "I really hope you do not get burned, fire its not your element, after all"

"**That man´s loyalty is compromised, that´s for sure"**

"Ah you were there?, you should be careful, the Palace magic defenses are strong"

"**I do not trust that knight, he is working for them, or playing with the two sides"**

"Fu, little Wardes was the most brilliant of his generation, after all"

"**It´s not something to laugh a all, I want to change my liaison in Tristain..."**

"No, my daughter is too young for that, and she _still_ sucks at magic"

"**I was not thinking of her ..."**

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

Notes:

Really how could anyone be Brigadier Beneral at 22? I know she was in the military seen she was a kid, but even then …

I´m not very proud of how this chapter developed. The conversation between Louise and Sel keep growing, and the "battle", if can be called like that was strange. But after all, Guiche is just a kid playing war so he had no chance at all, even if I did not give her the spear, but it was useful to her to discover her Gandalfr ability, like in the original FoZ.

The last snippet is just an example how much things have changed in the setting, and is a well known fact, for some people, the connection between Reconquista and Wardes, and about the strange person in the end … who knows, heh


	3. Chapter 3: Of Bathrooms and wolves

I still do not own nothing, also again no, there is no intention to profit with this.

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. . . . . . . . .

-"You must understand that Fire magic is not only useful for combat, but also has many peaceful possibilities..."

They have assisted to several classes, and to Selvaria it looked like a new course was starting, with several teachers introducing themselves to the alumni, some of them, for first time, and some of them seemed like they already new the students, like this obvious case, with Colbert sensei explaining uses of Fire Magic outside the ( quite logical ) military uses, in some sort of classroom that remembered her of a Chemical laboratory mixed with a dark ages Alchemical workshop.

_Is that carbon? Coke? _Selvaria was surprised. _Maybe they are not so out-of-date, and is just that with magic they simply don´t need technology so much._

"As this example, that I call Happy Snake..."

A small chorus of laughs interrupted the absentminded professor.

"...What? What happened?" asked with surprise Colbert "Eh? Well as I was saying this can be used to produce movement in this small artifact"

With a small spell fire the coal began to burn and with the vapor a metal glove with two L shaped exits per side began rotating, first very slowly and bit a bit accelerating faster.

"That´s stupid it has no use at all" said a student. A small murmur could be heard from other students.

_Not so, if you could connect that sphere to a wheel I suppose you could get some movement, rude but useful, this teacher looks like a bit more tech savvy that the rest … but is too rough, what would be next, that foul smelling petra-oleum?_ Thought Selvaria

"And that´s not all I have, too, a small development with oil instead of coal that looks even more promising, but is not ready yet" were the words of the professor, that answered without knowing the silent question of the Valkyria.

Selvaria could not avoid to roll her eyes. _Mad scientist in the making indeed..._

"And look at this small mineral that we call Ragnite ..."

Selvaria stopped her line of thinking when she saw the very well refined and blue glowing ore. _What the _…

"Colbert sensei in my hometown, La Rochelle, we have a lot of Ragnite and does not glow so brilliant, why that …?" started asking Guiche.

"Excellent question Mr. Guiche" Interrupted him the teacher. "With a water mage and a fire mage working together you can get rid of impurities, using a very hot water wash, mixed with a bit of acid and produce a more pure Ragnite, as you know this is essential to replicate the magical ore that makes Albion float and that allows the ships fly serenely in the air, with this pureness you can use smaller crystals for that, or bigger and heavier ships but that is not all you can do with this, look at this."

He show a small machine with a thing that looked like a antiquated light bulb.

"You can, with a bit of heating, to produce this small filament to ignite and ..."

The small bulb started shining brightly.

"But you can use a magical lamp without needing all that complicated stuff" protested another student.

"Louise" said very quietly Selvaria "where I come from, we use Ragnite for that, and to move vehicles too, we even use it to heal wounds too"

"Seriously?"said the pink haired mage. "But... eeeeek..."

Turning around, Selvaria found that Colbert sensei was at her side looking at her with a weird and more than a bit scary look. "So you knew about Ragnite, you have to tell me all what you can about it _please_?" the professor even got nearer.

_I did not hear him getting near_ "Hmm, I am really sorry but I was a soldier and not a scientist ..."

"Colbert sensei …"added Louise

"Eh?" in a moment the professor jumped back to his normal face and noted that all his students were looking at him bewildered "Oh, I´m sorry I got distracted for a moment, if you had a moment later I _really_ love to talk about this a bit more"

"If Louise it´s all right with that" answered Selvaria looking at her master with a pitiful look.

"Ah, we will be a bit occupied at the moment, Colbert sensei, but if we find a bit of time later ..."

"Thank you very much Miss Valliere, now lets continue the class..."

And with that the class continued with no more shocks.

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

_I´m glad I could finally clean myself _thought Selvaria.

They were in a ( really massive ) bathroom in the central building, and she and Louise were washing with the rest of the students, that tended to look Selvaria way too much for her liking, and Louis was also quarreling with the red haired Germanian. _Again. They look like siblings, or more like an old married couple, he he._

"_Zerbst_! I demand you that if you launch a spell in the water you _have to_ warn everyone first. I was almost scalded " say a really furious Louise.

"But Louise, the water was cooling too much, I only heated it a bit" answered her Kirche.

_This girls knows how to push Louise, that´s for sure, at least she is more animated when she is with her, Louise tend to be too grumpy._

"Lies!, you made it deliberately to burn me!"

_Sigh_ "Louise ..."

At this moment Siesta entered the bathroom interrupting what Selvaria was saying.

"Ah, miss Selvaria, I cleaned your clothes and I could patch some of the holes"

Selvaria got up and went to the maid. "That was unnecessary you helped me too much"

"Not at all, you helped us a lot in the kitchen, chef Marteau was very happy when you show him those recipes, it´s the lest I can do after that"

"Oomph, helping commoners?"

"I show them some recipes that my mother taught me when I was a kid"

"Anyway, just having one dress is not enough for a helper of de Valiere´s family, tomorrow we will go to Tristania and buy you a decent sorting of clothing ..."

"Ah, I have to go to the capital to bring things tomorrow, I´m using the Academy´s carriage, If you want you can come with me..."

"Thanks a lot Siesta, it looks like a good idea, no Louise?"

"Pff, better than walking anyway …"

"Nice, a trip to the capital! These Void days are so boring here anyway, Tabitha and I will go too, of course"

"..." the small blue haired mage continued to read a book with her usual calm.

"Wait! Nobody invited you Zerbst!"

"It´s alright, the more the merrier"

"I need to go to, if its okay ..." a blonde spoke.

_If I remember well she was the one grilling the stupid blond guy... _

"You too? Montmorency?"

"I need too to go! Its essential to me to go to Tristania tomorrow!" said a definitely too boyish voice

"..."

And thunderous silence followed that voice, followed by a great shriek of more than ten voices.

"GUICHE!"

Amid the _eeeeks_ and the _nooooes_ a small rueful voice could be clearly heard:

"We were _totally_ not spying you all, not at all ..."

Selvaria, the only one with Tabitha not running around like a scared chicken signaled a small point in one of the walls. "There"

"WE!"

A good number of spells could be heard and soon the small hole became a big one, with some parts literally burning, other parts frozen and a bunch of scared male students could be seen clearly at the other side.

"I can explain..."

"EXPLOSION"

Selvaria looked carefully her master as she utterly destroyed the entire wall.

"EX..."

"Louise, I think is enough or you could kill someone, look, we probably will need some help to take them out the rubble ..."

"How they dare!"

Selvaria noted that, except a small gesture with her staff ( that was the main reason for the frozen side of the wall ), Tabitha has done nothing at all, and continued reading as if nothing has happened. _Waterproof books, they are more advanced in some things, of course maybe it is a spell_.

"Siesta, please can you call some help to clean the trash? Fortunately we can throw them to the bath quickly"

"Err, on my way"

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

The sunrise was coming when they departed the Academy. Louise was up even before, and protested that Selvaria had not left her space to sleep, Selvaria, who as the previous days had almost not slept at all did not said nothing to the girl that had not stopped moving in all the night.

Louise had gone to the servant section and had insisted a recently awoke Siesta that they had to depart immediately because Tristania was six hours by carriage and they had no time to waste.

Both Selvaria and Siesta understood clearly that the fiery girl did not want to travel with the rest of the students and accepted the excuse.

After a pair of hours of travel they heard a scary howl.

"Wolves" said the maid.

"Where I came, they are mostly nocturnal, and usually do not go near humans if they can" said Selvaria.

"Here too, and they are much more common in the southwest than here, strange ..."

"I should have brought a weapon, that was careless of me"

"In fact..."

"Oomph, no problem I they dare to come near us I will scare them with my magic" said Louise with confidence

_More like blow up them to pieces_.

"There, on our right!"

"Look at my magic! EXPLOSION"

An impressive ball of destruction flew away … passing so far the wolves that Selvaria even thought that the small girl was doing it intentionally. _They are still too far anyway_.

"Louise ..."

"Is just a small mistake aiming, next time ..."

"CRACK!"

_What..._ One wolf fell, and even at this distance Selvaria could see clearly its head blown to pieces, but that was not the most striking thing to the Valkyria, no, that was the maid at her side that had just taken out from behind her seat a _sniper rifle_ and was hitting the wolf pack at a good distance.

"CRACK!"

"CRACK!"

The other wolves decided that too much was to much and start fleeing in the opposite direction.

"Louise, you told me that this land did not have rifles..."

Louise decided that this was a good moment to close her mouth, and said: "This is the first time that I have seen a musket like that, and the distance she hit the wolves ..."

The two girls kept looking at the maid in awe. Siesta only shrugged a bit and said "This is a small present that my father gave me when I was young, I used it to help bring food hunting rabbits"

"Can I see it, please?" _Looks like a Gallian GSR, highly modified_ … "Wait when you where _younger_, at what age did you started using it?_ How a little girl coped with the recoil_? "How the hell did you hunt rabbits with a battle rifle? Did you eat only rabbit shuffle or what?"

"Err I was 9 the first time, I think, and I usually used a modified bullet with less powder, and a different ammo to hunt them, my father is, well, a bit _special_, you know"

"You can tell me. Anyway that was an excellent shooting for a target that fast, small and so far, you could be a markswoman in the army I left at my land" _although we use less women than the Gallian, and with her Darcsen looks …_

"Thanks"

"Do you think I could find a weapon like you on the capital?"

"Don´t know, as far as I know my hometown had a small shop that made weapons for the Royal Musketeers, but I think those could not be found in any other place, maybe if we go to Tarbes in the

summer break ..."

"I would love to, if Louise is alright with that"

"Its OK to me, Sel, only ... is a bit scary the range and precision of those things"

_You can say it, a well trained marksmen unit can make mincemeat of lot of mages out of their spell ranges, someone is playing with fire here, but better if I speak with Louie without Siesta near._

Selvaria noticed a small point in the air behind them.

"Better if you guard that thing for now, Siesta"

The maid left the rifle back in the box under the seat. "Its strange, father told something along those lines, _Better if no one sees your weapon Siesta_"

_I wonder why …_Selvaria smirked. "Do you always travel with _that_?"

"It´s a dangerous world..."

_I almost pity the fool that tries to rob this girl, almost._

"Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière ! How you dare to left us when we told you clearly that we were going with you!" said a pissed Kirche.

Sylphid, the cute purple dragon familiar of Tabitha arrived near them, with four heads visible atop it.

"Ah, Zerbst you were so late sleeping that we left without you"

"Fight... Shoots..." said the blue haired girl.

_Good hearing_ thought Selvaria "Some wolves, we scared them"

"But ..."

"That looks like too much people for poor Sylphid, two of you can come with us, it will be better" a severe gaze to Louise and Siesta made sure that they did no say anything else.

"..."

_That girl is really keen, but better if she suspects something than to know it._

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

After too many hours, in Guiche´s opinion, and too few hours for the rest, they had the supplies for the Academy, a small fortune in clothes for the Germanian, a small fortune in books for the Gallian, a bunch of reagents for the water mage and a trio of leather armored outfits for the Valkyria, and even a pair of dresses for Siesta, that Louise insisted to buy, and the only thing they still needed was a weapon for Selvaria.

After looking a good number of shops she did not find a single weapon that she liked, probably because she was too accustomed to her Valkyria´s lance and Shield and modern weaponry, and what she was seeing was not very convincing. She almost by chance entered a ramshackle store.

"Nobles! All of my wares here are real and reasonably priced! There's nothing criminal here!"

"We are only looking for something to buy"

"Oh… that's rather weird… a noble buying a sword! Quite strange."

"Why is that?"

"Well… priests wave sacred staffs, soldiers wave swords, and nobles wave wands. Isn't that the rule?"

"Oh, I'm not the one using it. My familiar is."

"Ahh… a familiar that can use a sword, huh?" The shopkeeper spoke in a lively voice, and looked at Selvaria from head to toe. _Damn, now magic its not the only reason I wish I were a wizard_. "What a wonderful lady like you would like?"

"Do you have Heavy Lances or decent sables?"

"Err milady, a Heavy Lance is something you see in the army, not ..."

"And sables...?" repeated the bored Valkyria.

"Wait a moment please … what about this one?"

_As useful as a fry pan … "_I am looking for something a bit more _practical."_ _It´s preferable if doesn't break the first time you use it. _

"What about this famousGermanian alchemist Lord Shupei´s made greatsword?"

_Looks as Germanian as that cheese with holes, and I´m even not from this planet. "_Err"

"Ho ho, as beautiful as anything Germanian"

_That girl and her type is why this sad excuse of business still exists_.

"I heard that some mage thief that calls himself something like Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt stealing a lot of treasures from the nobles. Those nobles are getting really rattled, so they're arming their servants with swords..."

"Whoa, sexy lady, I see you are not impressed by all the scrap that old fiddler has shown you, if you really like a decent self defense weapon you must choose me! The offer is limited, as I am as unique as I am the only, the one ...murph"

The shopkeeper silenced the sword putting it ( him?) back in the scabbard. "He he, I am so sorry, old Delf is a bit rude sometimes."

But Selvaria was a bit curious. "Would you let me try that one, please"

With a big sigh, the shopkeeper gave her the ancient sword. Selvaria could note clearly that the sword was very old, and just as she take her put her hand in the grip she could feel the runes activating in her left hand, but thanks to her gloves it was almost unnoticed.

"Incredible, how much time has passed without seeing a Gand..."

Selvaria putted back quickly the sword in the scabbard. _Big mouth indeed_. "_If you want to exit this forsaken shop please shut your mouth for a while, understood_" said softly the Valkyria.

"Sure neechan"

She extracted the sword and noticed the rusted blade. It looked like a really bad idea, but …

"It´s old and in a lamentable situation, but it is interesting, how much for this … old thing"

"HEY!"

_Back to the scabbard._

"How much do you want to pay?"

_Great, one of those … How much for that broadsword in the other shop?_ "How about 200"

A beatific smile adorned the shopkeeper´s face. "I fear that´s too low for a magic sword … 300"

_Damn I offered too much _"But is rusty! I think 200 is too much even "

"I have a serious business here, I do not sell things …"

"If you excuse me?" said an approaching Kirche with a sexy smile, while winking to Selvaria "We spend so much this afternoon that we only can afford 50, maybe 75 between all of us ..."

"That is ridiculous" said the shopkeeper, not exactly looking at her eyes "That, that is an magic sword of the leg..."

"Ooh, its too hot in here don´t you think? 80 its okay, don´t you think mister?

"Err, 80 it´s okay I suppose"

Another wink. _Well, maybe she is not so helpless like I though _…

"... Welcome to the team Delf, this is Team Madness, team this is Delf"

"Madness?"

"It´s Delfinger sama for you!"

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

Notes:

Say hello to the _sniper maid_, because the _ninja maids_ are soo last century …

No, she is not the granddaughter of **Simo Häyhä** , although It would be _awesome_.

I used CRACK! as a rifle onomatopoeia because I thing that BANG! looks more like a small gun. No idea what to use really. Hunting ( poor ) rabbits with full battle rifles must not left too much of them to eat IMHO.

Refining Ragnite must be much difficult than Colbert said, but he did not want to scare his students.

IIRC in VC they used the Ragnite directly to illuminate the cities, but I suppose you can use this way ( I´m going to "figure" a lot of things with Ragnite, If I use it again, of course ;) cough ragnite-punk cough )

I wanted to do the Fouquet fight this chapter but the story kept rebelling. Next chapter will be full of Golem.

About the story, I am sorry because I´m dropping a lot of descriptions and details of the characters and plot. Its delicate, do you think is better to use just a few ( assuming a bit of knowledge of both universes, mostly FoZ ) or even if slows the story use all the descriptions as possible?.

By the way, I reread the 2nd chapter several times before uploading it, and even then still had several mistakes, so if someone wants to beta the story I would be very grateful, cos I´m sure this will have more.


	4. Chapter 4: Masked persons and intentions

I still do not own nothing, also again no, there is no intention to gnome-profit with this.

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-It was morning, again. Selvaria had finally self made a small bed with hay and some feathers that the servants have given to her, and lately she even could sleep a bit. As every morning, she waked up Louise, but since only two weeks ago, the small mage dressed with her "exercise" clothes w_hy the hell are bloomers in a medieval world?_ and followed Selvaria in her morning workout. E_ven worse, the blond idiot, first, and then the rest of her friends are since then following her too_.

She even remembered perfectly the first time that Guiche and Kirche had joined them. After the warm-up _come on, only 30 laps to the academy´s building, that´s nothing …_ they could not even stay on her feet. And when she explained than this was only to loosen up, and that the actual exercises started at that moment the two of them had start complaining like kids _wait, they are kids after all_.

Selvaria was proud of Louise, maybe because she started a few days before the rest, but she did all the drill without complaining and with _almost_ no problem, the other two were an enigma to the Valkyria, neither Tabitha nor Siesta said nothing at all, in fact she suspected they did some training on their own before. The maid usually had to leave quite before the rest to help prepare the breakfast, but it was the calm and almost peaceful way that she had to exercise that made the rest shut up and keep the effort. That was at first, and Selvaria knew that most of them had asked help to Montmorency for their many aches, now they could almost keep her rhythm with no problem. She expected that they would get tired and leave Louise and her alone ( maybe Siesta, and the serious Tabitha, to stay ) but she was almost sure the rest would abandon in 4 days, a week tops, but no, here they are, and since the blond guy have joined a group of "fans" had started to appear, something that pissed Montmorency a lot, and Selvaria too, for other reasons.

When she started the training, and after the wolves attacked them, she asked Louise to train together to never repeat that small fiasco, after all she doubted very much that they will have always near a shooting maid. The first days they trained for resistance, and Louise did not enjoy it at all, and spell fire while Selvaria covered her with the chatty Derflinger. Louise had almost no idea to cast spells at all, except for the ball of fiery destruction that always surged, no matter the spell she used. But in just a small time she could at least aim _a bit_ and cast quite faster than before too.

Selvaria had no idea how to help the pink haired caster, so they asked Colbert sensei and Old Osmond for help, both of them told them to be patient and wait a bit, they supposedly were making their own research, and again asked them to not show her magic to no one. _But everyone of the students have already seen her explosion_s … so now since they had audience they could not train magic in the morning, and have to wait until the night, lately the young mage was getting too tired for Selvaria´s liking, but she was to stubborn to recognize it. Selvaria tried to make her rest several days ago talking with Tabitha and Kirche until late, but that produced the opposite effect, because Louise just decided to invite them to the "extra" training, and again to Selvaria´s surprise, not only accepted, but they were damn good at fighting too, the Gallian girl was surely or a war veteran or at least had an incredible rough infancy, and the Germanian was not only very good with offense spells, but almost any tactic she saw, she was able to repeat or find a way to return back with interests.

Selvaria did not like the situation at all. Being from other countries, and one of them even from a rival family to boot, the chances they would met in a battlefield were too many to ignore, but she noted that Louise enjoyed those mock fights, Selvaria was almost sure that the pink haired girl had almost no friends before, at least in the Academy, and was taking pleasure of every minute with them. Selvaria was older than Louise, and did not want to left the mage alone, so just prayed to anyone who could hear her that they never had to be sorry for these small moments.

"_No, Malicorne, you can not join our exercises until you can actually end the warm up"_ was saying Louise to a rather plump kid.

"But, this time I finished ten laps, more than that and I will die!"

"Don´t worry I´m sure that at that remarkable speed you will catch them, in twenty years or so ..." said playfully Montmorency.

"Don´t know, I think is very valiant of you to do all the practice" said the young girl that was with Guiche the first night "but why so much drill, I think you are exaggerating a bit ..."

"Just because we have magic does not mean that we have to neglect our bodies, we must need to be prepared to whatever this word could trow at us" said very seriously Louise, in a posture very recognizable to the Valkyria.

_My, my, just some weeks and she starts to copy my poses and even my lectures, she probably will reach very high in this world, or so I hope..._

"The breakfast time will start soon, lets go real fast so we can bath after"

Other of the changes, with so many sweated lady in the morning, is that now the bath was opened all the day for the girls, and who knows why, the boys had a magnificent new bath in the middle of nowhere, again with the chance to use it all the day. The speed with the new bath was made was both an impressive display of the power of magic and a probable result of her discovery that the tunnel was older than the brats had recognized. In fact she saw a nice hand shaped bruise in Old Osmond face, the next day, probably courtesy of a very pissed Mathilda, or how she liked to call herself here, Miss Longueville.

That was other surprise. She suspected that she would attract some attention from the big shots, but she did not expected what happened last night, not at all.

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. . . . . . . . .

It was dark, and she finally had convinced an obsessive Louise that enough was enough and that she had to rest or she could have problems with her body and her magic. She was alone in the yard, trying to make some time. Even after all this time she still had problems to sleep, and she left Louise alone when she slept. She had stopped to cry several days ago, but still had some inner pain that could not get rid off. She had left the noisy sword in the bedroom too, tired of the continuous chatter. She just wanted to be alone for awhile.

Sadly that night was not going to be one of those nights.

"**Hello again, Brigadier General Selvaria Bless, member of the Triumviri Drei Stern, under direct command of Price Maximilian ****Gaius Von Reginrave" **

Surprised and more than a bit alarmed, the Valkyria turned to look at the person who had said those words. It was someone who definitely did not want to be seen, for was using a white cape with a hood that hid almost all of his/her body, and the face was covered with a metallic mask, probably magic, because she suspected that the strange tone of the voice, that could be male or female was being filtered by it.

"Who are you, why have you covered yourself so much, and how do you know my name and former titles"

"**Who I am I will reserve, for awhile, but as your name and titles, it was told me by you, when you introduced yourself to me ...**" _and I have a really good memory, Valkyria._

"Sorry, but I´m quite sure I never mentioned before the Drei Stern, and I never presented myself to nobody except my master and Colbert sensei, and I really doubt you are neither"

A small laugh, strange but not very menacing, sounded in the night.

"**What if I told you that you not only did it, but explained quite a bit of your powers, that ones that you still have not showed to your master, and even funnier, not a single lie has been told, tonight?**"

_Has this guy gone crazy, what is he talking about … wait other powers?_

"**Don´t you think is better if we make a small stroll in the night, I´m using spells to make sure that no one hears this conversation, but you should be surprised how good are some persons reading the lips at quite the distance**"

_Damn I should not left Delf behind …_

"**If you want your sword I can wait, and no, I can not read minds, but your face was the perfect example of suspicion"**

"It´s okay, lets continue"

"**Thank you**"

After a small walk that left them far from the main building the strange person continued to talk.

"**I know quite a bit of the Valkyries, and your conquer of Old Europa, and how did you play with history to suit yourselves, but well, I can ensure you that victors changing history is not a rare thing, neither in your **_**Earth**_** nor in **_**Halkeginia**_**.**__**But I´m digressing, you arriving here, instead of dying in that cold fortress of ****Ghirlandaio ****is something that can and will change everything in this world, but nobody can serve two masters, you still yearn for your prince, even while helping the void mage, soon it will arrive a time when you will have to decide who do you want to follow, and that is a decision you alone have to take**."

"Who are you and how can yo now all that"

"**Most of it, you told me, and the rest … well, I´m a good observer, for example, Mr Colbert is not just the absentminded professor he likes to represent, and Miss Longueville, who´s real name is Mathilda of Saxe-Gotha has a quite **_**dislike**_** of nobility that makes her vulnerable to certain persuasion ...**"

"?" Selvaria rolled her eyes "What the hell are you talking about, and why do you talk like some sort of diviner? Do you enjoy making a fool of other persons or what? And more important, because I´m getting tired of all this, what do you want of me?, or should I say ... of Louise?"

Again the strange laugh, harmonious while a bit of sad.

"**I´m sorry, I just came to advice you a bit, the Princess, that by the way and out of the record is an old friend of Louise, is coming soon, and she brings a small **_**present**_** for her, but do not forget that Louise must not grow overconfident, even with the **_**gift, **_**I suppose that the training, for example is a good idea, and you should practice more with the maid, and visit Tarbes as soon as you can, you will thank me if you do it. With the gift the Princess will bring and old conflict too ...**"

The strange person made a small stop, like considering his own words.

"And old conflict?"

"**Yes, as in any other place, there are a lot of conflicts in Halkeginia, but there is **_**one issue**_** that keeps dividing the people since a lot of time" **_**really a lot …**_** "I will tell you that is not the same divide that you had in Europa between the Empire and the Federation but another even older dispute ..."**

"The Darcsen, you are talking about the Darcsen ..." interrupted Selvaria.

"**Heh, you are still as sharp as always, don´t you … but after all, the Darcsen are human, can you imagine the troubles they would have in your Europa if they were even not the same species?**"

"The elves ..." _it´s not like the poor Darcsen were treated like humans, dough _"I did not hear much, but they seem to be feared and despised, so this dispute is because some hate them and some not?"

"**If it were so simple ..."**

_That´s why you cover yourself? For your ears?_ Selvaria wanted to ask, but was sure that the strange person would not answer. "Why are you telling me all this? You should be talking with Louise, I´m just an add on, a small new factor in this strange ... world"

"**She is too young" t**_**oo young indeed**_** "I doubt she is prepared for the approaching storm, and she will never survive without you help"**

"I´m not some sort of super human, if you, as you say, know my history, you should know how much of a failure I am, I did not accomplished a single of my goals in life"_ at least I hope that fat bastard did not make it_"

"**Don´t worry, you will never be alone, by the way, do not trust anybody, almost every one here has its own agenda, including the dashing fiance of Louise**"

"And you ..."

"**But of course ..."**

And with that the strange masked person disappeared.

_If I remember correctly that is possible with an air spell … maybe it was human after all, I need to read about elven magic, and quickly. And what the hell I can I tell to Louise …_

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_I still haven´t got a moment to speak clearly to Louise, not only about the masked person, but about her Valkyria´s powers, although without lance and shield I am quite limited. How could know so much about us, this night I have to take Louise for a walk and start talking, and fast, before everything get´s worse, and what was all about serving too masters? Could be a way to return to Europa? Maximilian sama … I fear it´s all over so I will not be of much help. But what about Louise … aaargh, I´m getting a headache, I´m not good at this..._

"Sel, are you okay?" asked a worried Louise.

"Er, yes Louise, sorry I was thinking a bit ..."

"Well you should be careful, I could almost see the smoke from your ears ..." said a smiling Louise.

"He, I will be careful because I do not want to end like you when you get pissed"

"Hey!"

"Joking, Joking, you are getting a lot of better, both in the mental and the body exercises"

"Thanks, I really think that I changed a lot since you arrived, thanks to you I can feel capable of anything!"

"That´s only because you are more confident in yourself, you only needed a bit of self-esteem, that´s all"

"Wait until this night, I have an idea to blow oomph ..."

"Louise darling, could you please not talk about blowing things in the middle of the class, thank you"

"Ah, that smile! I would like to smile soo scarily too!"

"Sigh"

"Alright, alright, I will stop talking about blowing things to kingdom come …"

Selvaria could not stop to note several students looking sideways to the pink destroyer, looking more than a bit scared.

_If they knew_ …

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It was quite late, and Louise, Selvaria, Tabitha and Kirche were training magic, specifically combat magic near the wall of the Academy. They were resting for a bit when Sylphid started roaring.

"Kyui, kyui kyui"

Well, if you could call roaring at that cute sound, anyway …

"What happens"

"Intruders" said Tabitha.

"Intruders?" _damn I did not thought that the warning was about the next night or I wold have talked with Louise..._

"Golem"

"Maybe its that Fouquet thief that rat of a shopkeeper was talking about" Louise said

"One Golem is nothing to Derflinger sama"

"Shut up, silence could be important if you do not learn to stay quiet when needed I will abandon you in a stable, _got clear_"

"Sure scary neechan"

"Stop calling … _bah_"

"Let´s go, I´m sure there will be a reward for capturing that thief, and it will be funnier than this training, that´s for sure" said the red headed Germanian.

"If you are bored why do you come here anyway?" answered quickly Louise.

_Those two …_

"Mage, up the golem ..."

"Nice eyesight, Tabitha" _she will probably the only real help I´ll have if this ends in battle, I wish Siesta was here._

"Girls stay calm and wait for ..."

"EXPLOSION!"

"Sigh..."

The spell was thrown with more accuracy than the wolves one, but again at too far of a distance, and between the shout and the pyrotechnics, the surprisingly agile monster dodged it, with so bad luck that the spell hit the wall behind the golem, making a small hole.

"Thanks for the help, little one, I was having problems with this" said a hooded person standing on the giant golem, just to disappear inside the building.

The voice was altered, as the masked one, but to Selvaria it looked like a woman´s voice.

_How the hell do you fight a monster so big with a sword?_

Selvaria ran with all her speed, that was no joke with the help of the strange runes and tried to hit the legs of the giant, just in time to see one of the arms trying to hit her and failing narrowly.

In that moment the thief reappeared with a long case in its hands.

"I´m really grateful for your help"

The golem start to run and Selvaria stopped, with no clear way to damage it without going too far of Louise. T_he only way to destroy it is with magic_. "Louise ..." _Where is Tabitha and the Germanian? Damn its too dark to star casting explosions, who knows what will be destroyed._

"It´s my fault, I made that hole that the thief used ..." started to say Louise, almost pouting.

"It was an accident, and as we were the only ones here with the thief, nobody has to know it ..."

"But, but ..."

"Don´t worry, it´s not your fault, seriously" _where are those two?_

They started to hear a flap, and soon the dragon could be seen near them, the two other girls with Sylphid.

"Forest … too dark"

"Yes, is better if we call the teachers"_ emough for tonight, what a sad defenses, anyway._

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It was dawn before almost all of the teachers gathered together.

"What an absolute disaster, how can the teachers on guard let a thief enter the building, with a … a golem too, and steal the War-wand of Destruction, this a most unfortunate day" said Osmond.

"We should alert the Palace immediately, this is too serious" added Colbert.

"Nonsense, and to be laughingstock of the entire country, of Halkeginia?, Do not forget that we are the best Magic Academy! We must recover the artifact and detain the thief, as soon as possible … well now, who offers volunteer for this important mission?" said the old Headmaster.

A long silence followed this words, and Selvaria was not surprised _these are teachers, not police officers or soldiers, wait what is that face that Louise is making … no Louise no …_

"I will capture the evil Fouquet and recover the War-wand of … whatever!" said proudly the pink haired mage.

_Too proudly _..._ sigh, I suppose that she feels responsible _…

"If a Vallière offers her help, a Zerbst will be no lesser that that, I will go too!" said Kirche.

_Great, just great_ .

"Too..." was the only word that came out from Tabitha´s lips.

"Tabitha, but why?"

"Friends"

_Ewww _..._ well at least she and Sylphid will be really useful_.

"It´s decided, then those three idi... err those three brave students will sort out this embarrassing situation" said Osmond

"I will go too! Oomph, I think I localized the lair of the thief" said a recently arrived Miss Longueville

"But to send students ..."

"Want to go in their places?"

"..."

"Then its decided, good luck, and may the founder be with you four"

_Still ignoring me, old geezer? How wonderful, three kids, a cute dragon, a really suspicious woman and a Valkyria without wings … Maybe if I convince Siesta to come? Or at least to lend me her G-1?_

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Notes:

Sigh, the conversation between Selvaria and the masked person keep getting longer and longer …

I fear I am giving Sel too much leadership, but its difficult to represent Louise like in the original FoZ, this time she has a regenerating oneesan, with a character between her two real sisters, that treats her well to boot, but in the end Louise _still_ is the half pint brat with serious problems of confidence, and I try to show it from time to time, and the small changes bit a bit …

I not putting anything from this ( Saito ) Earth, being interchanged in this story with Selvaria´s Earth, but I´m not 100% sure too …


End file.
